Seven men plotted for two weeks to kill convicted drug supplier Qadir Ahmed and then beat him to death in Keighley, a Court heard.

Mr Ahmed, 24, of Gordon Street, was ambushed near Cox's roundabout in Keighley on the evening of February 13 last year and murdered, said prosecutor Jennifer Kershaw.

Zulfiqar Asif, 23, of Bradford Road, Keighley, Amjad Ali Azam, 21, of Surrey Street, Keighley, Mohammed Iqbal, 24, of Salt Street, Manningham, Parveez Ashraf, 26, of Victoria Park View, Keighley, Zahir Bashir, 27, of Emley Street, Keighley, Mohammed Rafiq, 21, of Chatsworth Street, Keighley, and Atif Younis, 22, of Buxton Street, Keighley, have pleaded not guilty at Leeds Crown Court to conspiring to murder Mr Ahmed.

The trial opened yesterday and is expected to last at least six weeks.

Mrs Kershaw said the attack "amounted to an armed ambush".

She said: "It depended on planning; it was organised, comprehensive, resourceful and in the end lethal."

She said the accused bought second-hand cars, a mask and gloves, to carry out the attack, and bought weapons, including axes and hammers from the B&Q store in Keighley, only a short distance away from the scene of the attack.

A Rover car, possibly used to run Mr Ahmed down, was set on fire two hours after he was killed. Mrs Kershaw said: "His attackers lay in wait in their vehicles in the dark.

"They had armed themselves with wooden poles or sticks, hammers, and at least one axe.

"The vehicles were armed weapons in as much as they were used to ram Mr Ahmed's car.

"He ran but, because of a limp, was caught up and grossly outnumbered. He was knocked down and beaten to death."

She said Mr Ahmed had a conviction for supplying class A drugs for which he had served a prison sentence. On release he had set himself up as a security guard and on the evening of his death had been playing soccer at Keighley Leisure Centre, leaving just before 11pm.

The trial continues.